“I never did see an automata like that— you’ve never seen any other automata really— well what do you expect, being bolted to that plinth an’ all?” JaffMeern argued with himself.

“You know, it’s interesting,” Alfred mused to Prowl, “you would think that Jaff and Meern would argue with each other inside of their head rather than aloud. Maybe their minds are still separate and they are wrestling control of the voice modulator from one another.”

“I admit that I was rather surprised when that wolf guy ran up to us. So that was a proxy too?”

“Indeed. Though that one doesn’t have the same level of autonomy that Rom and I do, or our magical capacity. That one is more like... like a remote controlled suit of armor.”

“Remote controlled? Like a puppeteer or a necromancer using [animate]?”

“I suppose so, though I’m not familiar with those systems.”

“Systems...” Prowl repeated. “You have an odd way of phrasing things at times, Mister Alfred.”

Alfred laughed at that, “quite so, Miss Prowl, quite so. Master Prime isn’t from this country, you see. So there is some discrepancy in what might be common knowledge for you versus what would be common for him. For example, could you tell me what a Porkoopine is?”

“Wow, really? I mean, Porkoopine are everywhere. You can find them on every continent and in just about every sort of environment,” Prowl said incredulously.

“That might be the case, but still—” Alfred started.

Alika, formerly number 18, jogged up to the cart from a forward scouting position with number 19, Kalua. “Looks like we might have some company,” he said matter-of-factly. “19 thinks he’s spotted shadow ravagers up ahead so we should be prepared for an ambush.”

“Carnivac and Rom didn’t see anything of the sort, odd.” Alfred offered.

“How would you... ah, right. The wolf is really fast, even carrying Ram and Rom. It’s likely that the ravagers wouldn’t be interested in such a target if they couldn’t easily ambush them with the whole pack,” Alika reasoned.

“Just what are these ravagers?” Alfred asked.

“They’re big leathery things; all black with giant eyes,” Alika replied. “They hunt in packs and like to use illusions if they get in close. Usually, if you see one or two then chances are good there are more surrounding you that you don’t see. They attack anything that moves and figure out if it’s edible later.”

“Charming. What would you have me do, my lad?” Alfred asked.

Prowl hopped down from the cart, throwing on her armored breastplate and sword belt. “Do you have any weapons or combat abilities Mister Alfred?”

“I do not!” he replied.

“Just stay in the cart,” Alika ordered. “16! Ravagers ahead!”

As if a switch had been turned, 16— or rather Rebecca— threw off the blanket and jumped out of the cart grabbing a large crossbow and quiver of bolts. She took up a flanking position to the right of the cart and slung the crossbow, priming it for action. The device appeared much larger and more powerful than something a normal guard might have been able to wield. Truthfully, it looked more like a portable ballista and the bolts were equally as massive. Rebecca was also the largest of the group so maybe she was their heavy artillery unit.

To the left of the cart walked Remi, the former number 20, he had slung an interesting design of bow that had multiple string notches. His own quiver had a selection of multiple arrow types for different use cases. I guessed they were for different ranges and kill strengths. Again, this didn’t look like the sort of weapon that a “normal” person would be able to use. The idea of an Automata sniper was pretty terrifying given the level of precision that could be leveraged.

Prowl fell to the rear and Alika rejoined Kalua at the forward position, drawing his sword.

“Wot’s goin’ on? They’re getting ready to fight aren’t they? Oh yeah, we in danger? Of what, you getting dumber? Hey! I used to be a bandit you know, I know these woods! Shocked, this is my shocked face,” JaffMeern argued.

“Ahem, gentlemen, not the best time,” Alfred chidded.

“Right, sorry Mister Alfred. Yeah, sorry Mister Alfred.”

“Let’s just see how this goes, chaps. After all, as Automata, we don’t have much that a carnivore would be interested in.”

“16! 12 o’ clock, 15.82 degrees! 109.884 meters!” Alika called back.

THWAP! The sound of Rebecca’s portable ballista reverberated off the trees and the sound of the bolt sailing past whistled as it cut through the air. As soon as the sound of the whistle faded, it was replaced by a meaty thock and the screech of an impaled something. Even with an Automata’s enhanced vision abilities, Alfred couldn’t see far enough ahead to see the target, much less be able to hit it with a comically oversized arrow.

“10, 10:15, 9:38!” Remi called out as he released 2 arrows at once and immediately notched and fired a third. More creatures screeched and fell out of the trees dead. Alfred climbed toward the back of the cart and waved to Prowl.

“I say, Miss Prowl, any chance we could collect the dead ravagers? If they have illusion crystals, I could really use the materials.”

“I really don’t recommend getting out of the cart right now Mister Alfred.”

“But those materials will go to waste otherwise!”

“Yessir, they will. But I’d rather keep you and us alive sir.”

“Oh huff. Maybe I’ll get lucky and one will jump in the cart then.”

Arrows were twanging to the right and ballista bolts were thwapping to the left. Alfred looked around but he really couldn’t see much of anything. The sounds of things jumping around and getting shot came from the trees, but not a single critter could be spotted. I wondered if the knight watch model automata had higher spec’d optics than the standard ones. Alfred spotted a glow coming from behind Prowl.

“Oh look, it’s a fire squirrel,” he pointed out.

Prowl turned and dropped with a slash of her sword that sent the head of the squirrel flying. Before it hit the ground, the illusion had dissipated and a headless shadow ravager collapsed to the ground.

“Oh, well done Prowl. Well done, indeed. How did you know it was an illusion?”

“I didn’t,” she responded evenly. Prowl quickly grabbed the body as well as the head of the ravager and tossed them into the cart next to Alfred. As they passed dead ravagers that had been killed by the forward team as well as the long-range team, Prowl tossed them into the cart as well.

“Much obliged, young miss,” Alfred told her in a friendly tone.

“What are you going to do with these things?” Remi asked without looking back.

“If they have illusion crystals in them, then that’s the base ingredient for Automata eyes, so it never hurts to have more supplies on hand for Master Prime.”

“A bit grizzly when you put it that way,” Remi remarked with a hint of apprehension.

“All clear!” Alika called back.

“All clear!” Rebecca, Remi, and Prowl responded.

The group was about 7 hours or so from AutomaTown now, it was amazing that Sentinel hadn’t come across any of these things in his perimeter patrols; not that I was complaining. Still, I would welcome the addition of more illusion crystals. 5 of the beasts ended up in the cart with Alfred, Primus only knew how many lay dead in the woods.